German court to decide on Al-Jazeera journalist’s fate

This undated handout photo provided courtesy of Al-Jazeera, shows Ahmed Mansour, 52, a prominent journalist with the Qatar-based Al-Jazeera broadcaster's Arabic service. Mansour was detained at Berlin's Tegel airport on Saturday, June 20, 2015, on an Egyptian arrest warrant, his lawyers said. Mansour, who holds dual Egyptian-British nationality, was trying to board a flight to Doha. The station said he had been sentenced in absentia in Egypt to 15 years in prison over allegedly torturing an unnamed lawyer in Tahrir Square in 2011, a charge both he and the channel rejected. (Courtesy of Al-Jazeera, via AP) This undated handout photo provided courtesy of Al-Jazeera, shows Ahmed Mansour, 52, a prominent journalist with the Qatar-based Al-Jazeera broadcaster's Arabic service. Mansour was detained at Berlin's Tegel airport on Saturday, June 20, 2015, on an Egyptian arrest warrant, his lawyers said. Mansour, who holds dual Egyptian-British nationality, was trying to board a flight to Doha. The station said he had been sentenced in absentia in Egypt to 15 years in prison over allegedly torturing an unnamed lawyer in Tahrir Square in 2011, a charge both he and the channel rejected. (Courtesy of Al-Jazeera, via AP)

By Associated Press June 22, 2015 1 min read

BERLIN (AP) – A lawyer for a detained Al-Jazeera journalist says a court in Berlin will check the validity of the Egyptian arrest warrant that led Germany to hold his client for two days.

Fazli Altin says the court will meet Monday and there are hopes journalist Ahmed Mansour could be released as early as this afternoon.

Mansour, 52, a well-known journalist with the Qatar-based broadcaster’s Arabic service, was detained at Berlin’s Tegel airport Saturday as he tried to board a Qatar Airways flight to Doha. Altin said German border police acted based on an Egyptian arrest warrant disseminated by Interpol, but said Interpol itself had not issued its own warrant.

Mansour, who holds Egyptian-British nationality, has been convicted in absentia in Egypt on charges his lawyers and reporters’ groups call politically motivated.